Dynamic sensorimotor control for spatial orientation

描述(申请人提供)：空间引导行为是人类健康功能的核心，对感觉运动整合的更广泛知识将有助于治疗和康复，当它无法正常发育或通过疾病崩溃时。视觉功能受损的人在很大程度上依赖听力来指导他们的运动，然而令人惊讶的是，盲人可能表现出听觉运动整合受损，可能是因为他们缺乏通常用于校准这种感觉运动反馈系统的视觉输入。到目前为止，很少有研究针对理解听觉信息与哺乳动物空间引导行为的运动程序的整合，这项建议中描述的研究将产生数据，促进我们对听觉信息处理和空间定向的自适应运动控制的总体理解。结合行为和神经生理学实验，拟议的研究计划利用回声定位蝙蝠的声成像系统，这是一种依赖动态听觉场景的空间分析来指导其行为的动物。提出了三个相互关联的研究方向：1)我们计划用自由飞行的回声定位蝙蝠进行一系列实验，从事复杂的空间任务，旨在研究空间定位、跟踪和避障。2)我们计划从蝙蝠的中脑进行神经记录实验，因为蝙蝠听合成的声音刺激，模仿用于捕捉昆虫的声纳信号的动态特征。我们还将记录在平台上积极从事回声定位行为的拴系动物的中脑，使我们能够研究运动前和听觉诱发活动。这些实验将使我们能够研究蝙蝠的声纳信号产生如何塑造对回声的听觉反应。3)最后，我们将收集、分析和解释来自自由飞行的回声定位蝙蝠的第一批中枢神经系统记录。我们的方法是受到来自其他系统的重要结果的启发，这些结果表明神经系统中的时空活动模式可以依赖于行为状态、任务和上下文。总而言之，这些研究对神经科学、生物研究技术、机器人设计、控制理论和辅助医疗设备的开发产生了广泛的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Spatially-guided behaviors are central to the healthy functioning of humans, and a broader knowledge of sensorimotor integration will facilitate treatment and rehabilitation when it fails to develop normally or breaks down through disease. Individuals with impaired visual function depend largely on audition to direct their movements, and yet surprisingly, blind individuals may show impaired audiomotor integration, perhaps because they lack the visual input normally used to calibrate this sensorimotor feedback system. To date, little research effort has been directed at understanding the integration of auditory information with motor programs for spatially-guided behavior in mammals, and the studies described in this proposal will yield data that advance our general understanding of auditory information processing and adaptive motor control for spatial orientation. Combining behavioral and neurophysiological experiments, the proposed research program exploits the acoustic imaging system of the echolocating bat, an animal that relies on the spatial analysis of dynamic auditory scenes to guide its behavior. Three inter-related lines of research are proposed: 1) We plan a series of experiments with free-flying echolocating bats engaged in complex spatial tasks, designed to study spatial localization, tracking and obstacle avoidance. 2) We plan neural recording experiments from the midbrain of the bat as it listens to synthesized acoustic stimuli that mimic the dynamic characteristics of sonar signals used for insect capture. We will also record from the midbrain of tethered animals that are actively engaged in echolocation behavior on a platform, allowing us to study both premotor and auditory evoked activity. These experiments will allow us to examine how the bat's sonar signal production shapes auditory responses to echoes. 3) Finally, we will collect, analyze and interpret the first CNS recordings from a free-flying echolocating bat. Our approach is motivated by important results from other systems, which demonstrate that spatio-temporal activity patterns in the nervous system can depend on behavioral state, task and context. Together, these studies have wide-ranging impact for neuroscience, biological research techniques, robotics design, control theory and the development of assistive medical devices.